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Why Have Insurance?

A True Story

by Badger

This story happened whilst I was driving a car but the message here applies to bikers too, god knows what the outcome had been if I was on the bike.

So, Why Have Insurance?  

"Well for many reasons." I hear you all say. to protect other people if we hurt them, to allow us to buy a new vehicle if we cock up, for peace of mind, to have someone sort out all the problems if someone hits us.. So why have legal cover?  Mmm,  Not so easy to answer but you would think to work for us when we are injured in an accident.  Well here is a story that will once and for all let you know a great deal about what a waste of money this 'Insurance Scam' is. .

Phone call: 

Carole Nash - ".... and that includes free legal costs in the event of an accident" 

Me - " Oh great, that might come in handy, hopefully I won’t need it though!" What a nice bunch of people at Carole Nash Insurance, I thought. I can now rest assured that, in the unlikely event of me having an accident (I haven’t had one since 1999) I don’t have to worry about my claim. 

Uhuh! Right then, so August 23rd 2008, I am happily driving home from a relatives wedding in Derbyshire when I see before me .... on my side of the road!!!! Oh crikey! I can’t get out of the way! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!  A car.

He hit me almost head on, I had instantly jammed on my brakes but he hadn’t, he didn’t even swerve out of my path. I am trapped with both my feet well and truly stuck under the foot pedals, "Christ, I hope the engine doesn’t set on fire", I thought as I tried in vain to remove my feet. 

"Are you alright" the driver of the other car is peering in at me through the door which I had just managed to prize open after the impact of his VW Passat. "What the hell were you doing?" I asked him, expecting him to bring out his white stick to find his way back to his car. 

"I was just coming round that corner ...... " 

"I think you should phone for an ambulance and the fire brigade, I’m trapped in here" I shouted at him. I managed to contact my boyfriend who was at this stage 65 miles away in Lincolnshire and my brother to let them know I had been in a smash. My boyfriend said:

 "I’ll be there within the hour!" and my brother said: 

"I’ll be there in ten minutes and I’ll bring a camera!" Both kept to their word, luckily my boyfriend wasn’t killed in an accident as he hurtled over on his motorbike, and my brother arrived and took some really clear pictures of the scene. (Great, I have evidence!!! I thought)

Still trapped in the car

Anyway, to cut a long story very short, I was cut out of the car and transported to hospital on a stretcher with suspected back injuries, X-rays showed no broken bones and I was discharged into the pouring rain with my ripped dress held together with my hand and no shoes! After staying over at a friends house, I ordered a taxi to take me home. Upon my return home I telephoned Carole Nash insurance brokers to let them know about the accident, they asked me to send them copies of the pictures and await the solicitors instructions. Over the next weeks I slowly started to recover the stress of the accident although my back was agony and I couldn’t drive or even be a passenger in a car for more than a few miles. I contacted the solicitor regularly to see what news they had and I received a letter from the third parties’ solicitor blaming me for the accident .... 

"Yeah nice try!" I thought. I went through the usual procedures of seeing a consultant on behalf of the insurers who said my back could take some time to heal. I spoke with the solicitors to say that I wanted to know if my insurers would pay for an accident report based on the photographs I had, they said I should contact Carole Nash myself to ask ..... Hmmmm, I thought that was what they were paid to do! So anyway, I phoned them and they said that it would be the decision of the insurers, so they would contact them on my behalf.

Once again the legal system fails.

Two days later I received a letter from the insurers (Fortis) saying they had no idea what I was talking about as they hadn’t had any notification of any solicitors being involved or that I had any photographs of the scene, so they had already offered a 50/50 settlement to the third party. 

The minute I read the letter I got straight on the phone and asked them what was happening, explaining my contact with Carole Nash and the solicitors (Shoosmiths), they said they had no information about the solicitors handling my case but if I could, would I send the copies of the photographs. This I did within 24 hours and awaited their call hopeful to say  that they could take my case to court. I waited .... and waited.... after two weeks, I phoned them and they said that their opinion was that the police report said that the accident was on the white line system and that although they thought that the police report was wrong, they felt that if it was taken to court,  the judge would not take my photo’s into consideration and they had offered the 50/50 settlement anyway (as they had not been contacted by my solicitors at any stage to fight for my cause). 

My first reaction was, WHY? that didn’t last long my next reaction was ..... What the Hell have I been wasting my time sending these pictures out for? WHAT THE HELL about the fact that I would only receive half of any compensation due to me WHAT THE HELL. were the solicitors thinking? "I’m sorry but I’m going to have to put the phone down" I said as I felt my temper welling up inside me. "You have no idea how annoyed I am, I was not at all to blame, if I had swerved instead of just braking, I would have hit a house, what else could I have done?" 

The reply was:

"I understand that you must be very upset, if you wish to complain about the way you have been dealt with please contact ................" "Thank you I will!" I shouted down the phone at the Fortis representative.

The Solicitor busy working on my case. 

So as it stands, I am waiting before writing the letters of complaint because I am still so annoyed, I just don’t think I could write to them with any kind of objectivity, I am sure I would start swearing and shouting ... even though it would be on the PC and I could delete any expletives, I just don’t want to delete expletives yet. In fact the keyboard is steaming, as I write this at 1,000 wpm .... I am so angry! How can these people do this? What’s more, how can they do this and still get paid? 

So, there we have it, my question is still .... "Why have insurance?" The valuation on the car as a write off was half it’s value, the solicitors did sweet nothing and I am now thinking of taking them to court .... Hmmmm ... more money wasted, we all know that solicitors stick together like contact adhesive!!! Anyone who can answer my question, well .... we’ll see how many replies I get eh? I am only glad that I was in a rather large, well built Omega and not riding my motorbike in which case I would not be here to tell the tale. My MRI scan shows damage to seven discs and it is unlikely that I will ever fully recover from the accident. To add to salt to the wound, the next insurance quote will include the loss of NCB for both the car and the bikes (shared NCB did seem a good idea at the time!). The insurance premium will have gone up exorbitantly anyway, but with this on top of the annual increase, it will be a very, very difficult pill to swallow! 

There is a moral to this tale and this is my warning to you, NEVER assume the people you pay good money to are doing their job, in truth, assume they are incapable of doing their job and although you shouldn't have to, assume you will have to do their job for them, other wise, like me you will get shafted. 

As it is, it looks like I face a future without bikes and that is not a happy thought. 

Text and original images Copyright of the author.  © 2009 Tricky Imp Productions